paris

Monday, February 07, 2011

Apparently Mondays are just really busy around here, today even more than usual.

I had to take Eva to dance and get her dressed there, much to her distress. (Not because of any modesty issues, just that she could hear the music starting and was worried they would start without her.)

Lucas needed my help (a lot) to put together the display board for his science project. (Which we thought wasn't due until Wednesday.)

At 6:45, when we hadn't eaten and we were still in the throes of the formatting and printing and cutting and gluing, I was about ready to say we would just have to postpone family home evening until another night, but Eva was in charge and she was not going to wait one more day.

She gave us all a piece of paper and instructed us to fold it in half and cut out a heart. She assigned us each a member of the family to make a valentine for. She recommended quite strongly that they should include animal drawings.

She was definitely enjoying her reign.

Marc brought out the old Dad humor and made me a "Hop you will bee my valentine!" picture.

Max's was hilarious – all about cows and math. Drawings of stick cows and equations. He colored the back to look like cowhide and wrote "I'm cownting on you to be my valentine!" for Marc's benefit.

Lucas drew pictures of Max's favorite animals: cow, pigeon, emu, and flamingo (not sure if that last one is a favorite, but he really does love birds).

I gave Eva the one I made for her – a cat with one of those standard "purr"-fect messages. She looked underwhelmed.

Then I noticed she was writing a message to Lucas on the back of his valentine:

"O haw nis you areYou allwas promis to playeYou are a good bruthr."

I took back the one I had made for her and wrote a message on the back. She beamed.

This time it wasn't the children who needed a time out to regroup as a family. I needed it most of all. I came away energized, more patient, less tired. When will I learn?

Oh my gosh. This is so inspiring. It's another one of those moments that (like the one where your kids were all collaborating on that song) where you're like, "Yes. THIS is the best part of being a parent." You have some great kids.

I'm a major homebody (sometimes to the point of being anti-social) and really enjoy being a homemaker. Now if only I could be a better housekeeper... I can't stand being hurried or making small talk. I love anything that makes my surroundings more beautiful or cozy. I need alone time to recharge my batteries. I love having projects to work on and books waiting in the wings.